Steve Chadwick: We are all in this together

CLOSED: An anonymous threat forced the closure of Rotorua's Winz office. PHOTO/FILE

This week has been an absolutely tragic one for the staff and families of the Ministry of Social Development.

The shootings in Ashburton rocked that community and those who work on behalf of us right across the country. I'm sure all of us are horrified and shocked that any Kiwi could be cruelly murdered while they were simply going about their everyday public service in this country.

The news on Wednesday that a member of our community had also threatened to cause harm in our Rotorua office of the Ministry of Development - causing it to be closed immediately as a precaution - was simply horrible.

We can't always get what we want and we all have frustrations from time to time but to threaten or carry out an act against someone like this is simply unacceptable.

Our office of the Ministry of Social Development in Rotorua successfully deals with about 400 client interactions per day. These people need assistance and advice and on Thursday, because of the threat of one individual, some 400 enquiries/appointments could not be dealt with.

For staff who were already grieving for their southern colleagues, this must have been an awful experience for them and their families to go through. It does make you think about all frontline workers whose jobs it is every day to assist and advise others. People should be safe at work.

We need to help them as much as they attempt to help us. I understand we can all get frustrated when dealing with others. However, we always need to remember that everyone has a job to do. We need to remember that everyone is trying to do their best. We need to also remember none of us get it right all the time.

And the most important thing to remember is we are all in this district and country together. We should always be mindful of that.

Steve Chadwick is Mayor of Rotorua.